Our costs of living in Bangkok 2017

It’s been about 12 months since I uploaded our cost of living example, so we made a new one now that I’m more settled and have 12 months of spending history behind us. All up, it does go to show that Thailand is a great place to consider retirement on a budget, but it is not the cheap charley destination that many foreigners expect

Over the last year, I’ve grown accustomed to certain cost expectations when going shopping. The basic formula is that if the product comes from Thailand or has a high labour component from the Thai workforce, the cost of the item will be very competitive. Things like food and restaurants are very well priced unless the restaurant is targeting foreigners exclusively. Same goes for Clothing and Textiles when made in Thailand or sourced from the ASEAN region.

Electronics, Motor Vehicles, and exclusively made products outside the ASEAN region are usually more expensive. This is partly due to high import duties, which they say help protect Thai jobs. Products coming out of China can vary greatly in price expectation, and that may come down to quality vs quantity.

All up, if you’re a foreigner coming to live in Thailand, the financial component for your visa is 65,000 baht per month as an external income source. As you can see from our breakdown, it is certainly a livable income for Bangkok so long as you’re not living the high life.